Obama meets with African-American leaders

You didn't think a little thing like a blizzard would keep Al Sharpton away from the White House today, did you?

Sharpton and other African-American leaders met with President Obama, urging him to remember their communities when it comes to the pending jobs bill and other pieces of economic legislation.

"We expect to be included in the process," Sharpton said, just as business and union leaders are.

Obama's other guests: Benjamin Jealous, president of the NAACP, and Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. (Dorothy Height, chairwoman of the National Council of Negro Women, had to cancel because of the weather.)

Jealous, in a phone interview after the meeting, said leaders want "a shared commitment to the poorest, hardest hit areas of the country."

The snow did not dissuade him, Jealous said, adding that his community work has braced him for all kinds of weather. "I did what I always do -- I put on my boots, I found somebody with a four-wheel drive, and I went on down to the meeting."

As the flakes fell and the wind blew, all three visitors cited the higher levels of unemployment in African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods in the wake of the nation's slumping economy. "All jobs bills initiatives should be inclusive" of those populations, Morial said.

Morial, a former mayor of New Orleans, also said he thanked Obama for supporting the Saints football team during Sunday's Super Bowl victory. Morial said he made the president "an honorary member of the Saints' 'Who Dat?' Nation."

The group also said they want to meet with Republican members of Congress, even as they urged them to stop "obstructing" the president's agenda.

"It's not enough to say, 'no, no, no' when people are 'suffering, suffering, suffering' across the country," Jealous said.

Sharpton, president and founder of the National Action Network, said the group doesn't expect special treatment because Obama is an African American, but they do expect to have their interests taken into account when it comes to jobs and the economy.

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About David Jackson

David's journalism career spans three decades, including coverage of five presidential elections, the Oklahoma City bombing, the 2000 Florida presidential recount and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the White House for USA TODAY since 2005. His interests include history, politics, books, movies and college football -- not necessarily in that order. More about David